It is well and truly the age of technology. Be it smartphones, the Xbox, the internet, social media apps or business productivity applications, technology is a ubiquitous part of everyone’s lives. The digital technology revolution is being termed the fourth industrial revolution and the tech sector is one of the biggest job creators worldwide. A variety of tech jobs is available, ranging from database administrators to use case analysts and programmers, many of them high-paying. Let us take a look at some of them.
Information systems manager
This role involves the management of IT projects for a company. You may have managers employed full time or being assigned by contracting vendors. This is a key role in any IT project and carries bottom line responsibilities for project delivery. Most responsibilities are administrative in nature and include providing and managing project estimates and schedules, team management, training needs, software and hardware requests, interfacing with clients, monitoring of systems testing and software delivery. The average earning is $131,600 per year.
Analytics manager
With the arrival of Big Data and analytics, this is a cutting-edge role that is increasingly in demand. Businesses accumulate a wealth of data related to various aspects including customer purchases, sourcing, product pricing, and operational costs. They are now looking to make use of this data to derive business insights, improve efficiencies and grow revenue. The primary responsibilities of an analytics manager are related to the development and maintenance of analytics solutions. This requires a strong grounding in databases, data analysis, and statistics. They earn usually between $98,972–$125,259.
Product manager
With an average salary of $140,000, Product manager roles are among the highest paying jobs in the industry. Product managers basically act as the leaders of their respective products. In the initial build phase of the product, the product manager takes care of strategy, roadmaps and feature definition for the product. Once the initial build is complete and the first version goes live, the product manager starts to take responsibility for managing other aspects such as user feedback, testing, enhancements and bug fixes to the product. Sometimes, the product manager may also hold responsibility for managing P and L, revenue forecasting and marketing.
Data architect
While the role of a data architect has always been important within the Business IT side of things, with the advent of Big Data, the role of a data architect has become even more important. Data architects are responsible for defining the organization-wide data architecture, the processes that would collect and update data and those processes that would calculate derived data out of it. The annual salary is in a range usually between $56,580–$89,624.
Data scientist
Data scientists were needed for a long time only in organizations like the census department and in research, organizations performing advanced simulations such as DNA analyses and modelling runs for planetary physics. With the advent of Big Data and its benefits being recognized by mainstream businesses, data scientists are in demand in many businesses. The role of a data scientist demands strong skills in data modelling, mathematics, statistics, analytics and computer science. The data scientist also combines this with an overall big picture understanding of how the data relates to business requirements. The average salary of a Data scientist is $123,000.
Systems architect
The system architect takes care of systems definition, roadmap definition, systems design and systems architecture. The systems architect is primarily responsible for translating business requirements to a comprehensive systems architecture. He is also expected to have the deep technical knowledge needed to make decisions related to the choice of a particular technology and design approach. The role of a systems architect requires advanced education which can be obtained at leading universities abroad. A masters degree or a doctorate from a US university, for instance, can greatly aid in obtaining the knowledge needed to be a systems architect. Average annual salary is $120,000.
Applications development manager
There is a great deal of commonality between the roles of Project manager, Applications development manager, and Information systems manager. However, the role of an Applications development manager is oriented specifically towards applications development projects. The role demands a good but not expert knowledge of technology, strong project management skills, deep knowledge of software development processes, software quality, and team management skills. It also requires knowledge of testing and release management. Their average annual salary is $117,000.
iOS developer
With the iPhone being the number one smartphone platform globally, iOS developer jobs pay well. While pay scales for starter level iOS jobs are not high, experienced iOS developers really rake in dollars. An iOS developer earns around $100,000 annually in the United States.
Game developer
Gaming continues to be hot with Xbox and Kinect taking gaming to an altogether new level. Software developers with experience in gaming technologies and environments command a pay premium in the market. I’ve seen a rise in their earning as well. They earn between $90,000 to $100,000 annually. The best thing is freelance developers with creativity earn better than their other competitors.
DevOps automation engineer
The responsibilities associated with the role of a DevOps automation engineer are to analyse, design and implement deployments to cloud and host based infrastructure. This is a cutting edge role that has started evolving post the advent of DevOps. It is oriented around implementing automated deployment strategies. Average earning of a DevOps automation engineer is around $55,224 – $130,094.
